The rhetoric of explanation in Lucretius' 'De Rerum Natura'

The dissertation examines the question of the importance, provenance, and function of rhetorical techniques in Lucretius' De Rerum Natura. The term "rhetoric" is used to refer to the set of traditional formal techniques and procedures which authors use to create their texts and thereby produce certain effects on their audience. This definition includes the most pragmatic notion of rhetoric, namely the capacity to construct plausible arguments.; Regarding the question, three interconnected theses are proposed. First, that Lucretius' DRN is one of the most important rhetorical documents in Roman literature. Next, that Lucretius, continuing Epicurus' mission of enlightenment, did not inject rhetorical strategies from non-Epicurean sources, but merely intensified rhetorical elements already present in the work of Epicurus. Finally, that the rhetorical techniques in DRN act as cognitive and mnemonic aids for the reader. Lucretius' rhetoric is a rhetoric of explanation.; The Introduction states the question, points out the inadequacies of the treatments it received in the past, and advances the first two theses, announcing the way in which they will be supported in the following three chapters. Chapter One addresses Lucretius' choice of presenting Epicurus' teaching in the form of didactic epos, and examines this choice as a rhetorical move that stems from the programmatic goals set by Epicurus. Chapter Two examines the questions of how Lucretius structured his poem, what rhetorical devices did he use to further its transparency, and how are the forms of exposition and organizing principles of DRN related to the formal features of Epicurus' On Nature. Chapter Three is devoted to the main methods of argumentation in DRN, and to the question of how particular stylistic procedures in the poem are connected with particular types of philosophical arguments developed by Epicurus. The Conclusion contains the third thesis and points out that the ultimate goal of Epicurus' and Lucretius' rhetoric was a missionary one---to change the life of the individual.